A young mother, just 28 years old, is opening up about the troubling symptoms she experienced symptoms that pushed her to visit the doctor several times before she finally got a diagnosis of stage four gastric cancer.
Georgia Gardiner, who lives in the UK, started feeling unwell last summer. She dealt with stomach cramps and constant nausea, which eventually got so bad that she couldn’t even keep her meals down.
Looking back, she said: “My body was just rejecting everything. Then I was experiencing pains in my upper stomach. It was really intense, it was a sharp constant pain.”
Georgia tried to get help. She reached out to her doctor but had to wait four weeks just to get an appointment. When she finally saw someone, she was given medication for acid reflux and sent on her way.
On June 13, Georgia got a diagnosis that changed everything. She was told she had linitis plastica, which is a very rare form of adenocarcinoma that begins in the glands lining internal organs.
By the time it was caught, the cancer had already spread. It had moved into her lymph nodes and had also started to affect other internal organs.
She described feeling like her entire world had collapsed around her. She remembered asking: “Am I going to die?”
Doctors told her that she might have just one year left to live. Any treatment going forward would focus more on making her comfortable than on curing the disease.
Georgia said she feels incredibly let down. She believes her concerns weren’t taken seriously when she brought them up to doctors. She added: “The kind of cancer I’ve got goes from stage one to four in a matter of months.”
“I never thought I would have cancer, I’m 28, I thought I was invincible.”
Now, Georgia is pouring all her energy into spending time with her two-year-old son, Arlo. She wants to make the most of every single day with him and build as many memories as she can, while she still has the time.
“The thing that breaks me is how much I’m going to miss out on in Arlo’s life. He’s everything to me – he gives my life purpose.”
As Georgia focuses on creating lasting moments with her family, friends and loved ones have started a fundraiser to help cover the cost of future treatments.